The racing weekend that was - UPDATED

Formula One, at Valencia, Spain:
The F1 circus came back across the pond this weekend for the running of the European GP, and it looked as if the "no-repeat" streak of winners would hold again this weekend. Vettel took his 33rd career pole, now third best in F1 history, while past champions like Alonso (P11) and Schumi did not even make the Q3 cut.

Vettel's stricken RB being hoisted away

At the start of the race, Alonso, Kimi and Romain Grosjean all made spectacular starts. As was expected, the Red Bull Racing F1 car of Sebastian Vettel blasted away from pole and created a considerable lead.
But around the midway point, Vettel's dominance of the race came to an abrupt end with engine problems. Fellow Renault engine driver Romain Grosjean (Lotus) also dropped out of the race due to a problem with its engine's alternator.

The second part of the race saw the Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso in the lead, followed by Lewis Hamilton (McLaren) and Pastor Maldonado (Williams). As Hamilton's tire started to go away in the closing stages of the race, he fell into the clutches of the Venezolean who was pushing the Brit very hard into making a mistake. Well, Hamilton did make a mistake that cost them both dearly. Lewis dropped crashed out and Maldonado finished tenth but a penalty for causing the accident, which in my opinion he did not deserve, set him back two positions. To watch a video of the incident, click here.

From left, Kimi, Fernando and Schumi

As the checkered flag waved, it was Fernando Alonso followed by Kimi Raikonnen. The Fin, ex Ferrari Champion and now driving for Lotus, again came up short whilst chasing the red Spaniard. And remarkably, the third place finisher was none other that the Mercedes of Micheal Schumacher. As Schumi was cruising through the race he did not even notice that he was third.
I guess he just drives as fast as he can. This is evident by his post race interview remark that he was surprised to finish third.
The suits from Mercedes won't be happy with that remark.

Alonso waving the Spanish flag

A jubilant Alonso stated: "Nothing compares to this...I think, from the emotional side, this is the best win. The emotions that I felt on the in-lap, or during the podium ceremony or right now, doesn't compare to anything before. I confirm that this is the best feeling of victory by far, because of the whole situation in Spain [Spain qualifying for euro Cup semi's and economic situation], the grandtands, the weekend in general, how they support us."

As I watched the race finish, the first thing that came to mind was that it would be a podium of past F1 Champions with Ferrari.

Kimi: "just didn't have enough tires"

And the post-race interview was fun to watch; Alonso full of emotion, a surprised Schumi that didn't know where he was, and Kimi just being Kimi. Born cool, that is just how it is. To watch the video, please click here.

All in all, an awesome race that makes me want to keep watching F1. The only thing that is sad is to see Lewis keep making these mistakes that in the end will cost him being considered among the great's. To finish first one must first finish!

The next race, round 9, the British GP at Silverstone on July 8 next.


ADRL, at Virginia Motorsports Park:

Mother Nature did not cooperate Friday night when rain and strong winds postponed, then cancelled all together the qualifying sessions. The action continued on Saturday morning, bright and early, with lots of holeshot and upsets.

Below follows the winners in their respective categories:

Mick Snyder (Pro eXtreme), first driver in PX history to win three straight races, and did this against Tim Tindle on a holeshot win, 3.665 at 208.23 mph.

Doug Riesterer (Pro Nitrous), ran a 3.74 at 195.11 mph to beat Burton Auxier. Riesterer remarkably didn't make a qulifying pass until the final session but made it count.

XTF winner Brad Brand

Brad Brand (XTF- Extreme 10.5)) barely avoided touching the left guardwall en route to his first ADRL victory. This came against Alan Pittman in a highly entertaining come-from-behind victory, 3,949 at 185.72 mph.

Casey Stemper (Pro eXtreme Motorcycle) beat Eric McKinney in the finals eventhough his bike caught fire. He beat Eric with a 4.034 at 164.77 mph.

Richie Stevens Jr. (eXtreme Pro Stock) beat Dean Goforth with a 4.091 at 176.33 mph, picking the perfect time to make his quickest and fastest time of the weekend. Stevens: "This feels awesome".

Fredy Scriba (Pro Modified) made an impressive run to knock out Rickie Smith with a 3.981 at 188.25 mph. "This was really cool. It was definitely a tuner's weekend, but all the hard work we put in really paid off", Scriba mentioned on his performance.

Clash of Titans winner Teets

Terry Teets(TS), driving in the Top Sportsman and hailing from Virginia, who won the $10k Summit Clash of Titans, when he beat Richmond-area native William Brown III. Teets winning et was 4.444 at 163.59 mph.

The next race is the Summer Drags at US 131 Motorsports Park, Juny 13-14 next.



NASCAR, in wine country:
Sunday's running of the Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma, California, was an action packed road course race out West that left many begging for more.

Even though I didn't get a chance to watch this race "live", from Nascar's race rewind video, you see that racing on road courses can be as entertaining as on oval super speedways. To watch the short but entertaining video, please click here.

In the end, Clint Bowyer won the race, followed by Tony Stewart (2), Kurt Busch (3), Brian Vickers (4) and Jimmie Johnson (5).

Clint Bowyer on winning: "...You know, [Tony Stewart and Kurt Busch] behind me were champions of this sport, and that's big, to be able to hold them guys off."

The next race is the Quaker State 400 (Kentucky) on June 30 next

Thanks for reading.

Source: Crash.net, ADRL, Nascar.
Photo credit: Crash.net, ADRL.

The weekend that was #19

Formula 1, the Spanish GP:
Five races into the 2012 season, five different winners.

The last race winner in Spain could not have come as a bigger surprise. The Venezuelan driver, Pastor Maldonado, often referred to as a "rental driver", won the race from start to finish for Williams-Renault, who hadn't won a race since 2004.

Pastor Maldonado qualified second on the grid, but when pole-sitter Lewis Hamilton got penalized for a weight infraction and placed at the end of the grid, Pastor moved up to P1.
When the red starting lights went out (signaling the start of the race), Fernando Alsono (P2) made a great start in his Ferrari and going into the second corner had passed the Williams driver for first. However, Williams' pit strategy paid off when Pastor got out in front of the Ferrari, who was held up in traffic, and even though Alonso put on a strong charge towards the end of the race, he was not able to maintain the pace and eventually had to settle for second place.

The Lotus boys put on a helluva run, with ex-champion Kimi Raikkonen making a hard charge towards the front in the closing stages of the race. He finished in third place, in spite of a costly tire strategy mistake that hurt his chances to fight for the win.

Below the post race interview with the top three, in their own words. Maldonado: "Winning is an unbelievable feeling". Kimi: "we could've won"!



The interview with Sir Frank Williams was interesting enough to merit it's posting below. Among others, he mentions that he didn't see Pastor make a single mistake throughout the race and commended him on his great drive and first win.



It looks as if the season is going to be very exciting. The different winners up to now are: Jensen Button (Mclaren-Mercedes), Fernando Alonso (Ferrari), Nico Rosberg (Mercedes), Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull Racing-Renault), and Pastor Maldonado. Soon to be added: Kimi (just my humble opinion).

Next race is the GP de Monaco, to be held on Sunday, May 27.

NASCAR, at Darlington, S.C.:
Called "The Lady in Black" for the black streaks on its retaining walls at the end of each race, in spite of them being white at the start, is considered among the top three must-wins for any Nascar driver.

Overall, a good race under the lights won by five-time champion Jimmie Johnson, and in doing so, earning team owner Rick Hendrick finally his two-hundredth win.
Johnson controlled much of the race on Saturday night, leading some 134 of the 368 laps. The race stayed green for the longest (until lap 172) and the first round of green-flag pit stops came on lap 48, when pole-sitter Greg Biffle relinquished first place to Kyle Busch. The two swapped the lead until Johnson came into the picture after the second round of pit stops. Tony Steward ran a great race and in spite of braking his clutch with 85 laps to go, he remained a top contender.

There is no Nascar race without any wrecks or near misses. Marcos Ambrose had a big save on lap 140 and Jeff Gordon had a rear tire problem on lap 196, and subsequently again just a couple of minutes later. Jamie McMurray ran into the wall after an incident with AJ Allmendinger, putting both out of the race.

Towards the end of the race, there was a severe case of flipping the "ignition on" switch, in a valiant  effort to conserve fuel. And the race winner wasn't taking any chances.

The race would end in a shoot out. Watch the exciting last laps on the video below.



Next race is the Sprint Showdown and All-Star Race, held at Charlotte Motor Speedway, home of the Nascar Museum, this Saturday night, May 19.

Thanks for reading.

Source: Formula One Management, Nascar, Crash.net, Fox Sports, Wikipedia